Nina Hagen: The Godmother of Punk (book recommendation)

The godmother of punk was a mohawked opera artist and writer.

Catharina "Nina" Hagen is a German singer, songwriter, and actress. Nina Hagen is renowned for her iconic, unconventional appearance and her theatrical vocals. She rose to prominence during the punk and new wave movements in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

During this time, she joined the band Automobil and released the single "Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen”.

In 1982, Hagen signed a new contract with CBS and released her debut solo album NunSexMonkRock (1982), which became her first record to chart in the United States. Subsequently, she released a number of albums: Fearless (1983) and Nina Hagen in Ekstasy (1985), Nina Hagen (1989), Street (1991), and Revolution Ballroom (1993). 

Despite her status as a pioneer for the #punk movement, these albums didn’t achieved notable commercial success. However, in 2000, Hagen made her musical comeback with the release of her album Return of the Mother (2000).

Besides her musical career, Hagen is also a voice-over actress and author. 

She has written three #autobiographies: Ich bin ein Berliner (1988), Nina Hagen: That's Why the Lady Is a Punk (2003), and Bekenntnisse (2010). She is also noted for her human and animal rights activism.

[ book recommendation ] "Nina Hagen: That's Why the Lady Is a Punk" (2003) by Nina Hagen 

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

"Nina Hagen: That's Why the Lady Is a Punk" was published in 2003 and it follows the priestess of punk through her youth with 500 pages of images and texts detailing her journey through the Punk scene, her music, and early life. The book was published by Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf and is mainly written in German — but the pictures and history of Berlin's punk era from the prospective of an icon alone is worth the investment. The book was cowritten by Marcel Fiegel as well.

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